Abbas advisor calls Hamas' use of terror tunnels "quality operations"
Official PA TV program Palestine This Morning hosted Dr. Sabri Saidam, Deputy Secretary of the Fatah Revolutionary Council and President Mahmoud Abbas’ advisor for communications and information technology :
“For decades, Israel has refrained from announcing its casualties during war in order to avoid harming the morale of its soldiers. We are seeing [things] we haven’t seen in previous wars. We are seeing quality operations of infiltration behind the Israeli occupation’s lines, and tunnels designed for that purpose, as well as quality attacks that have done damage to the Israeli army – so there is a state of embarrassment and confusion. I say, the [Israeli] army may well be losing its balance. But perhaps the most annoying thing [for Israel] is the talk about the kidnapped soldier – this is perhaps the most important issue. But even more important was the report yesterday of the airline companies having cancelled their flights to the [Israeli] Lod airport. And this airport – that is, the security system crashed, and the missile battery defending the airport can no longer stop these attacks, since a rocket fell one kilometer from the airport.”
Notes: Hamas claimed to have kidnapped soldier Oron Shaul after his Armored Personnel Carrier was destroyed during combat in Gaza on July 17, 2014. Israel has declared that Oron Shaul was 'a soldier killed in action whose burial site is unknown.'
On July 22nd, after a rocket shot by Hamas landed one kilometer away from Ben Gurion airport in Tel Aviv, the American Federal Aviation Administration briefly placed a ban on American airlines flying into and out of Tel Aviv. European airlines suspended flights as well. The ban was lifted the following afternoon.
“For decades, Israel has refrained from announcing its casualties during war in order to avoid harming the morale of its soldiers. We are seeing [things] we haven’t seen in previous wars. We are seeing quality operations of infiltration behind the Israeli occupation’s lines, and tunnels designed for that purpose, as well as quality attacks that have done damage to the Israeli army – so there is a state of embarrassment and confusion. I say, the [Israeli] army may well be losing its balance. But perhaps the most annoying thing [for Israel] is the talk about the kidnapped soldier – this is perhaps the most important issue. But even more important was the report yesterday of the airline companies having cancelled their flights to the [Israeli] Lod airport. And this airport – that is, the security system crashed, and the missile battery defending the airport can no longer stop these attacks, since a rocket fell one kilometer from the airport.”
Notes: Hamas claimed to have kidnapped soldier Oron Shaul after his Armored Personnel Carrier was destroyed during combat in Gaza on July 17, 2014. Israel has declared that Oron Shaul was 'a soldier killed in action whose burial site is unknown.'
On July 22nd, after a rocket shot by Hamas landed one kilometer away from Ben Gurion airport in Tel Aviv, the American Federal Aviation Administration briefly placed a ban on American airlines flying into and out of Tel Aviv. European airlines suspended flights as well. The ban was lifted the following afternoon.